Spire Global, Inc., a leading provider of space-based data, analytics and space services, today announced it has been awarded the next order to provide commercial radio occultation (RO) weather data for the National Oceanographic and Oceanic Administration’s (NOAA) operational Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models. The order represents the largest volume of commercial weather data purchased to date by NOAA under the Commercial Weather Data Buy Program.
This purchase comes as NOAA has stated its intention to purchase increasing volumes of commercial RO data. The data provided by Spire will increase the volume of RO data available for assimilation into the national weather prediction models, improving the accuracy of those models and decreasing uncertainty in weather forecasting.
“As we see the effects of global warming impacting our weather patterns and events across the globe daily, the US has a duty to its citizens to increase its weather forecasting capabilities to ensure the protection of millions of lives from extreme weather events,” said Peter Platzer, CEO of Spire. “By providing data and analytics to NOAA’s weather prediction models, we know we can strengthen those models, ultimately saving lives and millions of dollars. This award furthers Spire’s partnership with NOAA to provide the highest quality RO data at the highest volume and most cost-efficient investment for taxpayers.”
NOAA will be purchasing Level 0 and Level 1 RO profiles from Spire. The order, which runs for six months, will provide 3,000 radio occultation profiles per day, out of Spire's constellation’s capacity of more than 10,000 profiles per day. Spire’s expansive radio occultation capability enables the company to simultaneously deliver data to both NOAA and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT).
In addition, the data provided to NOAA by Spire will be made available to international meteorological organizations and the broader US federal government upon receipt, enabling increased information sharing for critical weather data.